I thought this damning statistic, from the Wall Street Journal, was remarkable.
At a time when the overall U.S. homicide rate is declining, more civilians are killing each other and claiming self-defense—a trend that is most pronounced in states with new "stand your ground" laws.
These laws, which grant people more leeway to attack and even kill someone who is threatening them, are attracting close scrutiny following February's controversial killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Florida by a neighborhood watchman.
So-called justifiable homicides nearly doubled from 2000 to 2010, the most recent data available, when 326 were reported, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of crime statistics from all 50 states.
Good God, 326 “so-called” justifiable homicides in 2010! In just 50 states! How will the nation survive such an onslaught?????
Excuse me while I Google something……………………………(yes I’m really googling now)………………………………….Okay—here it is:
According to the FBI there were “12,996 murder victims in 2010 for which supplemental data were received”. I suspect that means there were probably a lot more than that, but why quibble. Okay, 326/12996 is 0.25%. Since justifiable homicide “nearly doubled” in 10 years, then it must have increased by 0.12%. (The word “doubled” really does have an impact, doesn’t it? And it’s true!)
This is a test of your intelligence:
1. Is the ”nearly doubled” statistic of justified homicide more significant than the opposite (and unstated, not to mention obvious) statistic that unjustified homicide must have declined from 99.75% to 99.63% over that same period? If so, wouldn’t that be a good thing (albeit rather small)?
2. Is it possible that an increase in “justified homicide” is logically the same as a decrease in unjustified homicide?
3. Do you ever really think about the crap the news media feeds you?
Thanks for listening.
